related works
In Search of a Prayer : for cello / Micha Hamel
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Cello
Scoring:
vc
Amandante : Opera / Maxim Shalygin; libretto by Paul van der Woerd
Genre:
Opera, musical theatre
Subgenre:
Opera
Scoring:
2sopr 2bar pf 2vn vla cv db
François Villon : Opéra en 1 acte et 3 tableaux / Libretto and music: Sem Dresden
Genre:
Opera, musical theatre
Subgenre:
Opera
Scoring:
soloists 3recit SATB 3220 2000 perc hp pf str dancers
Dorian Gray : opera in two acts / revised version, Hans Kox
Genre:
Opera, musical theatre
Subgenre:
Opera
Scoring:
soloists 2220 2211 timp perc hp str on stage: pf
composition
Requiem : for tenor, actor and ensemble; opus 37 / Micha Hamel
Other authors:
Hamel, Micha
(Composer)
Description:
Dedicated to myself. to the part of me that died.
Fragments are the only forms I trust (Donald Barthelme)
A damn good funeral is still one of our best and cheapest acts of theatre (Gwyn Thomas)
Requiem was composed on the request of Godelieve Schrama, who asked me to write a chamber piece for her and any number of players. It was commissioned by Pierre Audi for the Holland Festival2012. The commission was granted by the Fonds Podiumkunsten.
The Requiem was composed to take place in a special space: the medium sized church "de Duif" in Amsterdam, Netherlands. All registrations for the organ are based on the instru-ment to be found there, which is a romantic organ with three keyboards plus pedals. Also, all the directions for the positions in the space are to be understood to be appropriate and valid for that very space. Might the piece be performed in the future, an other space will surely require new decisions in order to stage it well. The people responsible are kindly asked to find all possible solutions to accomodate it in the most practical manner, though respecting the poetics of the piece.
The score includes only the parts that are composed in the notational sense of the word. During the rehearsals, various improvised fragments have been developed and inserted or superimposed to complete the piece. These fragments are deliberately not written in the score to maintain and reinforce the open character of the piece. For the afterlife of the piece, this is unpractical. since it makes its preservance frail and its identity inexact. if not obscure. This however is to be understood as a metaphor; the piece, like life itself. decomposing after its performance.